


Dreams and Fragments

by semirose



Category: Tangled (2010)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-22
Updated: 2011-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-27 18:31:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/298773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/semirose/pseuds/semirose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The future moves on as the past clings and influences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dreams and Fragments

**Author's Note:**

  * For [melliyna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/melliyna/gifts).



When his tiny perfect daughter was born with gorgeous chestnut brown hair Eugene managed to let out the breath he’d been holding ever since they discovered Rapunzel was expecting. This lasted all of a minute. Then her eyes opened and Eugene saw her eerie golden flower shaped eyes. Holding her in his arms right after the birth he was the first to see those two pure gold orbs and as terrifying as the thought of being a father was, the thought of letting anything happen, of letting anyone take advantage of her, was even more terrifying. It was love at first sight and he was never letting go.

It’s not that he thought Rapunzel’s healing ability was anything bad, ask anyone and they’d say it was a wonderful gift that greatly benefited the kingdom but oh how it took it’s toll on her. Thinking of his tiny little girl having to deal with the constant requests and the blame for not doing enough and the threats of kidnapping was enough to make him want to lock her up in a tower and never let her out (not that he would ever, ever say that to Rapunzel. Even after all these years spending the first 18 years of her life locked away with only an evil manipulative witch for company haunted her).

“Gemma Fitzherbert,” Rapunzel said with an exhausted smile as he placed their daughter in her arms and lay down next to her, holding them tight.

“I thought we agreed our kids would have your name.”

“What name?” Rapunzel scoffed. “Give her an identity, something to hide in beyond just ‘The Princess.’ Let her have dreams of her own, let her be herself until we’re old and she’s ready to be ‘The Queen’ and she’s found her King.”

After the initial shock of being out in the world and discovering her identity it had hit Rapunzel hard that she had responsibilities and choices and people to speak to and expectations to live up to. A lifetime of being told she wasn’t good enough, that her only worth was her hair, that she’d never be anything had left it’s mark and moments of strength and kindness had been punctuated by moments of crippling self-doubt and a need to hide. It had taken a lot but even when she was knocked down Rapunzel always got back up and sure-fire declarations, almost prophesy or curse-like in her delivery, were not uncommon and always heeded.  
“Hey now, she’ll have all that remember. Our Gem will have a wonderful childhood growing up in the palace, making friends, cuddling with her parents, maybe fighting with a sibling or two, everything that we never had.”

Eugene would do everything in his power to make it so. Sometimes being an ex-thief came in handy what with the contacts and the shady skills. He’d _know_ what to do and he wouldn’t hesitate if anything came to hurt her. He might be ‘The King’ now but politics and ceremony hadn’t made him forget everything Flynn Rider knew.

 _“Daddy look!” A bird with a broken wing flying out of her hand. 2 years old and already requests to have her sent to places that need healing constantly pour in._

“What a lucky kingdom to have two healers,” Rapunzel scoffed as she crumpled up yet another request. Dressed in traveling clothes and ready to head out once again. Exhausted because saying no to a legitimate request always broke her heart. In the beginning, when she was just The Lost Princess Returned it had been exciting to explore the world and use this talent that not-Mother had kept hidden for so long. A decade later and instead of an adventure it was a chore. But one she’d endure forever if it meant her daughter got to be a kid. Got to draw and skip around the palace and braid hair with the other girls and snuggle up to her daddy begging for stories of how mommy turned wacking someone in the head with a frying pan into a forever love and a legitimate fighting form. Got to dream about the adventures she’d have one day instead of dreading the ones she already had to endure. Got to heal small animals and her friends scrapes instead of listening to a heartbroken widower scream about how if she was better she would have been able to save his wife.

“You don’t have to agree to all of them,” Eugene said for the thousandth time. “You should be resting, saving your strength,” he added placing his hand on her belly.  
A boy please, Rapunzel thought. A happy healthy _normal_ little boy.

And so he was. Noah Fitzherbert, normal in every way except for his status as ‘The Prince.’

Sometimes her influence over the world scared her.

 _”Mommy look!” 3 years old and swinging from ropes and always leaping before he looked. 6 year old Gemma cartwheeling under him and giggling but still keeping a watchful eye making sure that if he hurt himself she could swoop in and help._

“Look at them,” Eugene whispered, watching his sleeping children curled up together.

“How did we get such perfection?” Rapunzel whispered back.

The Tower had become their refuge, remodeled and door added had turned it from prison to sanctuary. It was their secret always and where they could be just Rapunzel, Eugene, Gemma, and Noah. No crises to be solved, no one to heal (minus some over exuberant children and accident prone adults), just walls to draw on and land to frolic in.  
“Sometimes I wish we could just stay here forever,” Rapunzel said. “Nothing can hurt us here, not anymore.”

18 years since she first stepped foot out of the tower. It had felt like a different life the moment she had left to meet her parents for the first time but it was still so hard to believe that now she’d spent equal parts of her life outside and in the tower.

“But you know I’d never do that to them right?” There were some in the kingdom who believed and former thief and a former shut-in raised by an evil witch were unfit to rule and would bring their destruction. Most of the time they were easy to ignore, but doubt always has a way of creeping up.

“I know,” Eugene said hugging her close, “but it’s a nice dream.”


End file.
